It’s amateurs ahead at The Wigwam as Garewal and Hong share lead
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LITCHFIELD PARK, Arizona—The wind didn’t blow nearly as hard in Wednesday’s second round of the PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying Tournament at The Wigwam. That didn’t mean the scores would be appreciably better. Two amateurs, Jason Hong and first-round co-leader Viraj Garewal, are at 4-under, and the duo holds a one-stroke advantage over Henry Lee and Blake Tomlinson. John Sand and Chris Francoeur are two shots back.
While birdies weren’t necessarily hard to come by on day two as the wind laid down, it was bogeys players had difficulty keeping off their cards. How tough has The Wigwam been this week? Only two players—Garewall and Lee—have managed a pair of under-par scores through 36 holes. The field stroke average is at 74.3 on the par-72 layout.
Hong definitely felt the difference in the course during the two days. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the firmness of The Wigwam’s greens.
“I think it’s important to be on the fairway on this course so you can spin the ball on these greens because these greens are so firm right now. That’s going to be key,” said Hong, who hit eight greens in regulation in the first round and 15 in Wednesday’s second round. “I hit the ball really great today. [The course] played so differently to [Tuesday].”
Hong’s score was also different, as he shaved four strokes off his opening effort. Wednesday, he made five birdies and one bogey, with three of his birdies coming in succession, starting at No. 12. Hong hit wedge-shot approaches on 12 and 13 to 10 feet, respectively, then stuffed his 9-iron approach on the 14th to five feet.
Garewal did Hong one better, with a four-in-a-row birdie stretch toward the end of his day. He had tap-in birdies, at the 14th and 16th, he made a three-foot downhill birdie putt at the 13th and a four-footer on the 17th. That was the good. On both sides of the birdie stretch was a double bogey at the 13th and a bogey to close for the bad.
“I hit one bad tee shot, mostly a strategy error,” said Garewal of his double bogey. “It was a bad decision off the tee. That was a frustrating hole, but I was able to move on from it.” Garewal bogeyed his closing hole, with what he called a “silly three-putt” and “a frustrating way to end.”
The tightly packed leaderboard shows 12 players within four shots of Hong and Garewal’s lead.